It’s all utter hokum of course, but sadly this sophomore effort doesn’t maintain the manic pace or sheer goggle-eyed dreadfulness of the first episode. There’s a breadcrumb trail of clues, underground caverns, and some cheesy character names (an American senator called Simon Joy? Priceless!), but things are far more competently handled this week, which is a terrible disappointment.
Still, there is some fun to be had: a scene clearly shot on a foggy field in Essex is meant to stand in for a park in Washington; Gorman (William Hope) from Aliens makes an unexpected appearance; Hugh Bonneville’s character Gregory ‘Dolly’ Parton continues to channel the spirit of Inspector Morse, sinking pints and shouting gruffly about bones.
Even so, things seem oddly toned down from the first frenzied outing. There’s nothing to match last week’s cave full of burning crosses, for example, or the continuity errors, or the rope-swinging CG that looked like something out of Captain Pugwash. Even the gore is toned down from last time – instead of a rubbery decapitation we get an almost bloodless throat cutting.
‘Come on,’ a character implores, ‘there are people to inspire!’ Sadly, this episode didn’t.
Check out Ryan’s review of episode 1 of Bonekickers
